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From Socialist Worker, No. 88, 14 September 1968, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
THE HOLOCAUST which has laid Biafra waste looks as though it is slowly drawing to a close as the last Biafran towns fall to the invading troops of the Nigerian federal army.
Aba has fallen. Only Owerri and Umahia still lie in Biafran hands.
But there are still about 6,000,000 Biafrans in the surrounding jungle areas who will continue to resist. Aba, with a population of 400,000 was deserted when federal troops entered.
The federal state of Nigeria was the artificial creation of British imperialism. After much political manoeuvring, Col. Ojukwu last year led the Eastern region away from the federal state and formed the independent state of Biafra.
Both Britain and Russia have sent aims to crush the Biafrans
The Biafrans clearly have the right to secede from Nigeria — the right to national self-determination must be defended. Although in internal policies socialists would oppose Col. Ojukwu, in this genocidal war, with the imperialists and opportunists supporting Nigeria, we must wholeheartedly support the struggle of the Biafrans.
The British government and the Tory press are wringing their hands in horror as 6,000 Biafran refugees die every week from starvation. But Wilson and company have continued to supply the arms to the Lagos government which have allowed the massacre to continue.
It makes their protests about Russian troops in Czechoslovakia nauseatingly hypocritical. Capitalist morality clearly extends no further than the first opportunity to make profits at other people’s expense and misery.
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Last updated: 22 October 2020